Daniel A. Piazza
Before 250: The Colonial Post and the Making of America

This presentation explores official ephemera of the colonial American post office—materials created for administration rather than preservation—highlighting how imperial authority, revenue, and communication were managed in the century before independence. Through receipts, acts, rate charts, ledgers, and newspapers, it reveals how the postal system navigated distance, currency, and public debate while creating the communication network that shaped America before 1776.

Daniel A. Piazza is Chief Curator of Philately at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, where he oversees exhibitions, research, and acquisitions for one of the world’s largest philatelic and postal collections. Since joining the museum in 2007, he has curated major shows including Baseball: America’s Home Run (2022), Alexander Hamilton: Soldier, Statesman, Icon (2018), and Freedom Just Around the Corner: Black America from Civil War to Civil Rights (2015), the latter earning a Smithsonian Research Prize. Piazza lectures widely, contributes to philatelic scholarship, and has been featured in outlets such as The Washington Post, NPR, and C-SPAN. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London in 2017 and named one of Linn’s Stamp News’s “Most Influential Philatelists” in 2022, he holds an M.A. in American history from Syracuse University.